Hundreds of passengers onboard a Jet2 aircraft were left frightened after the pilot had to make an emergency landing due to concerns about 'reported smoke inside the plane'.
Travellers were heading from Tenerife South to Birmingham when their flight was redirected to Faro Airport in Portugal last Thursday. The airline confirmed the change of plans and described the incident as a "minor fault indication."
Emergency services including firefighters and the police were called to the aircraft, which landed without any problems at around 4.40pm. A different plane was sent to take the 220 passengers to Birmingham. They got there just before midnight, which was late. The Jet2 plane stayed in Faro and was flown back to Birmingham the next day.
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: "We can confirm flight LS1266 from Tenerife to Birmingham followed standard procedure and diverted to Faro on February 22 after the crew reported a minor fault indication. The aircraft landed safely and customers continued their journey to Birmingham on a replacement aircraft."
In December last year, a similar incident took place with another Jet2 plane after the cabin filled with smoke shortly after it took off from Glasgow Airport. Passengers had just started their journey towards Geneva, Switzerland, when the plane was forced to make a U-turn, reports Birmingham Live.
Restaurant owner takes staff to Tenerife to say thanks for their hard workLuckily, the smoke was not caused by a fire as the airline explained that the smoke came from catering equipment. They reported that there was a fault with the galley which triggered the smoke. Travellers were able to continue their journey after boarding on a different plane.
A spokesperson previously told The Scottish Sun: “We can confirm that flight LS161 followed procedure and returned to Glasgow Airport after a minor fault with the oven in the forward galley created some smoke. The aircraft landed safely and customers will be transferred onto a replacement aircraft.”